Google Search Leads Feds to a Couple’s Home

Husband searched for 'pressure cooker bombs' on a work computer

A Google (GOOG) search for “pressure cookers” and “backpacks” led federal agents to one couples house, expect it didn’t.

Michele Catalano sent the internet into paranoia on Thursday when she blogged that her search of pressure cookers, and her husband’s search of backpacks, resulted in six agents from the “joint terrorism task force,” showing up at her home. What really happened isn’t as conspiracy worthy. Catalano’s husband,Todd Pinnell, had looked up both “pressure cooker bombs” and “backpacks” on his former employer’s computer. After Pinnell left the company it looked through his history and found the searches. The company then notified authorities, reports Tech Crunch.

Pinnell talked to the agents for about 45 minutes and admitted to looking up how to make a pressure cooker bomb. He assured the agents that the search was out of curiosity, and not a desire to create one. The agents left after they concluded that Pinnell wasn’t involved in any terrorist activities.